EMPTY KINGDOM TOP 100 Artists of 2012

The beginning is, in fact, finally here. After shifting through exactly 1470 posts for the entire 2012 calendar year, a dozen pots of coffee made, several holes punched in the drywall during heated deliberations, and several concussions suffered from office supplies hurled at each others’ heads, we proudly present the third annual EMPTY KINGDOM TOP 100 Artists of 2012! Following suit of the EK TOP 100 of 2011 and 2010, this year’s TOP 100 was carefully complied by three of our eternally enslaved authors, Bunnyman (BM), okmarzo (OK), and Konahrtist (KA), and let us make the declaration that this list does not in any way reflect a “real” sampling of the “best” work on this site. Period. Think of this list as a kind of “mix tape” that you would make for your significant other; a sort of collaborative compilation of some of the art that we enjoyed throughout the year. Since there actually is no truly objective way to judge such a thing (especially with the caliber of artists that we feature daily), we used a highly sophisticated formula in considering all of the artists’ work that would make Einstein blush (we think).

Our formula for judging the work was:Personal Taste (of the author) + Technical Skill + Creativity + Subject Matter / Message + Body of Work = Selection, with the weight of each depending on the artist and category.

Because our editorial control is so strict when it comes to selecting the artists to feature on EK, it means that we undoubtedly and unabashedly love the shit out any artist and their work if they make it on our site. With that said, there were so many artists that we personally fought for to make the list, but after all the hair pulling and nail scratching and eye gouging and countless “Yo Momma” jokes, we couldn’t place any artist without unanimous consent, and to those who didn’t make the last round of cuts, our hearts go out to you.

Feel free to debate, argue, and malign the list if you want. If you really hate it, we ask that you go through 1470 posts from all of 2012 and pick your favorite 100 artists, and you’ll see why it took us an entire month to prepare such a list for such a deserving group of fans as yourselves.

And so like in years prior, we dedicate the 100th spot for you. Yes, you. You, the EK faithfuls, who made it possible for EK to even exist. Without your support over the years, none of this would have been possible, so for that, we’re eternally grateful and can not thank all of you enough. EK loves you.

We also wanted to take a short moment to recognize the other authors who put blood, sweat, and tears into their posts tirelessly sharing new artists, revisiting past favorites, bringing you exclusive interviews, and presenting gallery spotlights from across this tiny planet as they have throughout the year. We could NOT have provided nearly half of the content to all you beautiful and dedicated EK fans with out (in order of appearance):

And finally before we continue on to the actual TOP 100 of 2012, the three authors responsible for this list would like to share a few words before being sent back down into the basement to continue their eternal indentured servitude.

BM: Believe it or not, Marzo n’ I had a movie concept like this way back in the day…but this was done way cool so now we don’t have to.KA: You always know when the animation is that good when you have to question whether or not you took drugs before watching the piece.BM: Someday when I disappear for good you’ll find my bloated dead body in a tiny hotel room on a tiny island. And this video will be playing on the TV.

BM: This makes me sad. I wonder what parts of their soul the photographer gives up and gains to bear witness and represent such things. In some ways photojournalists are martyrs of art because I’m sure their lives are changed forever when they expose themselves.KA: Ditto. Much props to Mitidieri for being in Tiananmen Square in 1989 to capture the tragic events that unfolded.

BM: I hope he’s got an ashtray because if that doobie reaches his lips he’s in big trouble.KA: OKay, who would win? This tree guy or any one of those Ents from Lord of the Rings?OK: Everything is connected in Fulvio’s realm. All is one. The natural seeks to find balance with the unnatural.

KA: Mr. Kuksi is the first artist to make it on to all three of our TOP 100 lists! That just reflects his badass-ery for his raw talent and skill!BM: lol, some people just got it like that.OK: We’d like to crown a legend, but how do you crown a man who can create something as epic as an entire classical myth-themed sculptural series with his own hands.KA: I say just hand him a solid gold brick with an EK stamp on it. I doubt anyone would refuse that!

100. This year’s 100th spot is dedicated to YOU, the EK fans, visitors, audience, members, our incredibly large international family. With out you, there is no EK. It’s been a long time coming, and we can only continue to move forward with all this “bis-nasty” with the steady support that we have been so humbled to receive from all of you. We started out as a mere blog to share art/artists that we enjoyed and inspired us, and little did we know that it would have grown so quickly into this. Thank you.

Believe it or not there are photographers who still shoot with film. Polish photographer Lukasz Wierzbowski is one them and really knows how to pull the trigger as well. Lukasz is no stranger to Empty Kingdom. The artist's been featured on this website numerous times now and it was about time we give the interwebs another update.

Weronika Gesicka born in 1984 in Włocławek (Poland). Graduated from the graphics department of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw and the Academy of Photography in the same city. An important part of her art is working with archive materials of various sources. These are both image banks or images found on the Internet and police archives or old press photography.